As a total noob, I got a lot out of the book Swarm Intelligence [2001] by Eberhart, Shi, and Kennedy. Terrific survey of optimization overall and then dives into bee colony inspired algorithms (particle swarm optimization). Lots of books with similar name, so here's the link:

https://www.amazon.com/Intelligence-Morgan-Kaufmann-Evolutio...

I'm happy to see their website is still up:

http://www.swarmintelligence.org

I ended up using ACO for a manufacturing optimization problem. Once you reframe your problem into one of the classics, traveling salesperson in my case, you can feed it to a bunch of different strategies. I suppose I could have used genetic programming or taboo search, but didn't have the gumption to play around more.

I haven't done any optimization or OR work since, so haven't kept up. All this machine learning stuff as made me wistful for the good old days. I'm on the lookout for a hobby problem or project which will give me an excuse to circle back to optimization stuff.

I've intentionally reprogrammed myself (at least) two times. Three takeaways:

#1

How we talk changes how we think.

This is how propaganda works. We're somehow hard wired for sociability, cooperation. Something about our mirror neurons, theory of mind, and empathy.

#2

Our minds strive to maintain equilibrium.

There's an immune system like resistance to change, of any kind. The backfire effect of persuasion must be somehow related to this.

And yet, successful propaganda, persuasion somehow bypasses our defenses. Maybe we have an evolutionary glitch, where fearful stressed out people are more malleable.

#3

We don't remember changing our minds.

This is terrifies me.

Swarm Intelligence [2001] explanation of social cognition cites the research about our amnesia. My guess is that forgetting is somehow necessary for learning.

https://www.amazon.com/Intelligence-Morgan-Kaufmann-Evolutio...

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Please (!) share more recent explanations for the neuroscience of propaganda, cults, persuasion, and so forth.

The only hopeful, optimistic stuff I've read recently is about de-radicalization and successful cult deprogramming. TLDR: Empathy, tenacity, and patience.

There's also this[1] which is a great introduction to Swarm Intelligence and it's relationship to Evolutionary Computing, Genetic Programming, Genetic Algorithms, etc.

[1]: http://www.amazon.com/Intelligence-Morgan-Kaufmann-Evolution...

And anybody who's really into this stuff should probably poke around at:

http://www.swarm.org/index.php/Main_Page

and

http://santafe.edu/

as well.

A really good book on this subject is Swarm Intelligence by Russell Eberhart

http://www.amazon.com/Intelligence-Morgan-Kaufmann-Evolution...

(I'm not affiliated with the book in any way :)